(August 9, 2013 at 12:52 pm)whateverist Wrote:(August 9, 2013 at 12:23 pm)Texas Sailor Wrote: Logic is descriptive of the universe. As thinking beings, logic describes the universe in such a way that we can make sense of it.
We are able to reflect, and logic is the mechanism through which this is done.
We are able to experience different scents, and smell is the mechanism through which this is done.
Logic, is a method, and all signs point to a natural one at that.
I'm not so sure what logic is but I doubt if our sense of smell is a good analogue. Logic seems to be a method of deducing what else follows from the truth of certain propositions. As such it is as much or more about our language as it is reality. Of course we value it because it can pay off in questions of strategy. But long before we had either language or logic it would have been possible to make connections between coinciding events. Other mammals and birds do this all the time. Stating these relationships in propositions isn't necessary for recognizing or exploiting them. I feel like you may be over-valuing logic.
A method, yes. Contingent upon a mind. As you've pointed out, not necessarily human either. Whatever kind of mind we are talking about, natural ones are the only kinds we know of, and without them, logic ceases to be of any value at all. Logic requires a mind to apply it, but the characteristics of the objects to which it is being applied to are noncontingent upon a mind at all. Frodo seems to be equivocating Logic (the method of discerning truth), and The Laws of Logic (describe characteristics of truth which can be recognized through logic, but are noncontingent upon a being recognizing them as such). They are descriptive of nature. Frodo needs to show that they are prescriptive from God.
